By; NONYE EKWENUGO, Kaduna
ThriveAgric, an agricultural technology company, has revealed plans to provide financial inclusion services to over one million smallholder farmers across the country in the next five years.
The regional manager, ThriveAgric, Samuel Garba, disclosed this on Wednesday at Kaduna Youth and Women’s Empowerment Town Hall Meeting organised by ThriveAgric in collaboration with CRUST Microfinance Bank with the theme; ‘Igniting Change and Driving Economic Growth’ .
According to him, ThriveAgric distributed inputs to farmers to reduce unemployment rate in the country.
“We have empowered over 540 ,000 farmers across Nigeria, empowered over 200,000 in Kaduna within 4 years . Our target is to empower over 1 million farmers in Kaduna and Nigeria in the next five years”.
Garba however, harped on the need to invest more in young people for economic growth.
The coordinator of the event, Mahmud Shaho noted that the meeting was to address the significant barriers that young people and women face in accessing economic opportunities and participating in decision-making.
He however, said that the objective of the programme was to promote youth and gender inclusion, discuss existing policies and identify gaps that need to be addressed to promote youth and gender inclusion, he said.
“We introduce participants to innovative products and services such as Crust MFB, Trade, and Climate Smart Agriculture that can enhance their economic activities. Build networks strengthen connections among youth, women, local leaders, and stakeholders to create a supportive ecosystem for economic empowerment”.
Earlier in his keynote address, Yazeed Mikail identified cultural barriers as key challenge to gender inclusion and empowerment, adding that mentorship and leadership programmes is important to ensure gender inclusion.
He tasked stakeholders on the need to empower young people for economic growth, saying investing more in young people is critical to positive change.
For his part, Oluwatosin Adeyemi, the head of operations at CRUST Microfinance Bank, disclosed that his outfit is empowering businesses to reduce unemployment.
One of the participants, Zakiya Abubakar thanked the organisers for the opportunity given to them and promised to utilise it.